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Washing your hair is important to keep it clean and healthy, but does it make it greasier? Find out how washing your hair affects greasiness.

When your hair starts to appear greasy, your natural reaction is to want to wash it straight away to get rid of the grease.

Washing your hair is important to get rid of excess oils, as well as dirt and product build-up.

Warm water helps to soften the grease, but it doesn’t wash it away on its own. You need to use a shampoo to properly clean your hair and scalp.

The oils on your hair and scalp are hydrophobic, which means ‘water-fearing’ – a shampoo’s job is to emulsify the oils - make it easier for them to mix with water - making it really easy to rinse them away.

So although you want to remove the excess build-up to avoid greasy-looking hair, it’s important not to completely strip all the natural oils.

Your body produces oils at a pretty constant rate - no matter how frequently or infrequently you shampoo.

This means over-washing can lead to scalp and hair dryness - your body can’t compensate by producing “extra” oil.

So it’s important to wash your hair regularly enough to keep it nice and clean, but not too often as this could lead to dryness.

Be cautious with conditioner

Make sure to thoroughly rinse conditioner from your hair, as build-up at the roots will make your hair look greasier.

Everybody’s different. If you’re prone to oily hair, daily washing could be the best approach; look for a shampoo that’s gentle enough for everyday use.

Depending on hair type and lifestyle, you might need to wash it more or less than this- our surveys of people from around the world find that people wash their hair about 3 times a week on average, but habits vary widely. Just work out what’s best for you.